Eric Lawee | Bar-Ilan University (original) (raw)
Books by Eric Lawee
This book explores the reception history of the most important Jewish Bible commentary ever compo... more This book explores the reception history of the most important Jewish Bible commentary ever composed, the Commentary on the Torah of Rashi (Shlomo Yitzhaki; 1040-1105). Though the Commentary has benefited from enormous scholarly attention, analysis of diverse reactions to it has been surprisingly scant. Viewing its path to preeminence through a wide array of religious, intellectual, literary, and sociocultural lenses, Eric Lawee focuses on processes of the Commentary's canonization and on a hitherto unexamined—and wholly unexpected—feature of its reception: critical, and at times astonishingly harsh, resistance to it. Lawee shows how and why, despite such resistance, Rashi's interpretation of the Torah became an exegetical classic, a staple in the curriculum, a source of shared religious vocabulary for Jews across time and place, and a foundational text that shaped the Jewish nation's collective identity.
The book takes as its larger integrating perspective processes of canonicity as they shape how traditions flourish, disintegrate, or evolve. Rashi's scriptural magnum opus, the foremost work of Franco-German (Ashkenazic) biblical scholarship, faced stiff competition for canonical supremacy in the form of rationalist reconfigurations of Judaism as they developed in Mediterranean seats of learning. It nevertheless emerged triumphant in an intense battle for Judaism's future that unfolded in late medieval and early modern times. Investigation of the reception of the Commentary throws light on issues in Jewish scholarship and spirituality that continue to stir reflection, and even passionate debate, in the Jewish world today.
Financier and courtier to the kings of Portugal, Spain, and Italy and Spanish Jewry's foremost re... more Financier and courtier to the kings of Portugal, Spain, and Italy and Spanish Jewry's foremost representative at court at the time of its 1492 expulsion, Isaac Abarbanel was also Judaism's leading scholar at the turn of the sixteenth century. His work has had a profound influence on both his contemporaries and later thinkers, Jewish and Christian. Isaac Abarbanel's Stance Toward Tradition is the first full-length study of Abarbanel in half a century. The book considers a wide range of Abarbanel's writings, focusing for the first time on the dominant exegetical side of his intellectual achievements as reflected in biblical commentaries and messianic writings. Author Eric Lawee approaches Abarbanel's work from the perspective of his negotiations with texts and teachings bequeathed to him from the Jewish past. The work provides insight into the important spiritual and intellectual developments in late medieval and early modern Judaism while offering a portrait of a complex scholar whose stance before tradition combined conservatism with creativity and reverence with daring.
"This exceedingly rich and well-written book offers students of Jewish intellectual history and historians of scriptural exegesis, for the first time, a study of Abarbanel as biblical commentator. Lawee argues convincingly for Abarbanel's merit as a 'harvester' and a 'builder'--harvesting the fruits of his predecessors and building his own edifice upon their efforts. This book is bound to become the definitive study of medieval Jewry's last great biblical parshan (commentator)." -- Charles H. Manekin, coeditor of The Jewish Philosophy Reader
"Lawee's nuanced analysis results in a more accurate understanding of Abarbanel's legacy in the context of Renaissance humanism. Abarbanel emerges as a deeply learned Jewish intellectual, who defended Judaism against its detractors by entering a creative dialogue with ancient, medieval, and contemporary authors." -- Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Arizona State University
Articles by Eric Lawee
Hebrew Union College Annual, 2024
In his lone surviving work, a fifteenth-century rationalist from Crete, Zecharyah ben Moshe, defe... more In his lone surviving work, a fifteenth-century rationalist from Crete, Zecharyah ben Moshe, defends Abraham ibn Ezra and Maimonides from strictures made against them by their most formidable critic, Nahmanides. The title under which Zecharyah’s tract comes down in some manuscripts, Offering of Zeal (מנחת קנאות), captures the work’s dual nature: a literary oblation to pillars of medieval Jewish rationalist biblical interpretation that takes the form of zealous criticisms of one whom Zecharyah characterizes as their unworthy, and even unscrupulous, rival. My article explores Zecharyah’s skillfully wrought poetic preface, concentrating on its conceptual components, contextual elements, and depictions of his work’s three dramatis personae. One appendix supplies the poem in the original with English translation; another the colophon to a manuscript of the poem not included in a recent critical edition. Study of Zecharyah’s work yields insights into such larger topics as late medieval Byzantine Hebrew biblical scholarship and the astonishingly under-researched afterlife of Nahmanides’ highly influential commentary on the Torah. Zecharyah’s work may safely be considered the ne plus ultra of anti-Nahmanidean criticism in the annals of Jewish literature.
Abstract: Among biblical accounts that invite skepticism, the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis... more Abstract: Among biblical accounts that invite skepticism, the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis have long attracted attention, with Methuselah famously living close to a millennium and others nearly as long. This study explores an analysis of the issue and its cognates in Revealer of Secrets (Zafenat pa'neah), a fourteenth-century Torah commentary by Eleazar Ashkenazi that has only recently reentered the light of history. Striking is Eleazar's teaching that Moses composed the chrono-genealogies in Genesis based on sundry traditions that contained imprecise narrative hyperboles." Eleazar also suggests that the patriarchal narratives are a "noble ruse" designed to inculcate belief in the world's creation. Eleazar’s exploration of the topic pro-vides an entree into the fertile mind and spirited pen of this barely known late medieval rationalist as well as into an unstudied chapter in the history of Jewish reflection on a challenging biblical crux that evoked much reflection and a rich medley of larger religious themes.
Medieval Jewish readings of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, remain almost entirely oblivious to... more Medieval Jewish readings of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, remain almost entirely oblivious to the antinomy between ethics and the revealed divine command that many modem interpretations find at the heart of the story. This study explores an exception, the teaching of the fourteenth-century rationalist, Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan Ha-Bavli. In his Revealer of Secrets, Eleazar seeks a remedy for what he takes to be the theological and moral scandals that arise when the Akedah is read according to its plain sense. While Eleazar’s treatment of the Akedah builds in many ways on that of Maimonides, it also adds novel layers regarding this most difficult of biblical accounts. For this reason, the study begins with a substantial review of Maimonides’ intentionally elusive treatment of the Akedah and its reception among some represen-tative later medieval interlocutors. Turning to its main focus, the article supplies a case study in medieval Jewish rationalism at its limits, in both matter and manner.
The essay provides an aerial view of selected key developments in recent academic explorations of... more The essay provides an aerial view of selected key developments in recent academic explorations of Jewish religion, theology, and thought in medieval through incipient modern times. To provide an integrating perspective for so broad an overview in so brief a compass, it appends to the already bulky title a further specification: "with emphasis on the 'cultural turn.'" The aim is to evoke some high points, note conspicuous patterns and new departures, and venture a brief assessment of the state of the field (such as it is one) and its prospects.
קשריו של אדם הראשון עם בעלי החיים: יסודות ימי ביניימים תהודות מהעת החדשה : זכרה לאהרן: קובץ מחקר... more קשריו של אדם הראשון עם בעלי החיים: יסודות ימי ביניימים תהודות מהעת החדשה
: זכרה לאהרן: קובץ מחקרים במקרא ובפרשנותו – ספר זיכרון לפרופ' אהרן מונדשיין
Jewish History, 2022
This article explores marginal notations in a manuscript of a resolutely rationalist commentary o... more This article explores marginal notations in a manuscript of a resolutely rationalist commentary on the Torah written by the barely known fourteenth-century Maimonidean, Eleazar Ashkenazi. The notations belong to Ephraim ben Shabbetai, who completed his codex in Venetian Crete in 1399. Though Ephraim's comments are episodic and relatively few, study of them can serve as a vehicle for bringing the world of medieval Hebrew marginalia, and receptions of rationalist biblical scholarship, to life. After situating Eleazar's work and Ephraim's reproduction of it within a variety of late medieval eastern Mediterranean scribal and rationalist contexts, the article provides a taxonomy of Ephraim's marginalia, which range from commendation to a note that seeks to justify Ephraim's expurgation of a passage in Eleazar's work that he and his teacher deemed religiously intolerable. Findings in the field of marginalia studies inform the discussion as does the notion of a "manuscript matrix," a coinage of Stephen Nichols that aims to replace conceptions of manuscripts as inert places of inscription with one that sees them as an interactive space inviting ongoing interpretive activity. While Ephraim's marginalia yield no fully realized portrait of their author, they provide an entry into his mindset, not to mention his status as a reader with a mind of his own. In several cases, Ephraim's comments mark a point where a learned Jew's informed responses and his passionate religious attachments meet. Study of marginal notations like the ones explored here illustrates how manuscripts and their creators served as instruments for transmitting and shaping Jewish knowledge. Keywords Marginalia • Biblical commentary • Rationalism • Ephraim ben Shabbetai • Eleazar Ashkenazi Medieval manuscripts often come "dressed, bedecked, adorned," be it with prefatory matter, illustrations or, "most importantly, marginal notes." 1 When considered in light of its marginalia (and other peritextual elements), a work in a handwritten codex becomes a composite literary artifact. 2 The following
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2022
Portraits of Abraham often bear the distinctive stamp of their creators, a fact attested in spiri... more Portraits of Abraham often bear the distinctive stamp of their creators, a fact attested in spiritual biographies of the patriarch in medieval Jewish literature. An example is Abraham as portrayed in the pages of a Torah commentary by the fourteenth-century Maimonidean Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan ha-Bavli. In step with Maimonidean models, this Abraham ardently cultivates noesis as the principal religious activity. At the same time, he puts himself in grave danger in order to promote a revolutionary monotheistic teaching. While often taking his bearings from Maimonides, Eleazar can imbue Maimonidean ideas and interpretations with new resonances and turn them in novel directions. In his account of Abraham’s career as a monotheist missionary, Eleazar portrays Abraham in a manner without Maimonidean precedent when he imputes to the patriarch the use of mockery as a device to breach idolatrous ignorance. Eleazar emulates Abraham’s use of ridicule in his campaign on rationality’s behalf. Yet where Eleazar’s Abraham uses mockery against pagan irrationality, Eleazar deploys it to deride fruits of the midrashic hermeneutic and its foremost medieval spokesperson, Rashi. Put otherwise, Eleazar ridicules midrashim that threaten to turn the divine word into a propagator of the sort of unscientific myths Abraham so heroically opposed. In so doing, he positions himself in a line of enlighteners standing at the perennial crossroads between rational religion and popular faith.
ElEazar ashkEnazi on thE longEvity of thE anciEnts A mong the many spiritual and intellectual inn... more ElEazar ashkEnazi on thE longEvity of thE anciEnts A mong the many spiritual and intellectual innovations that arose in the Jewish Middle Ages, none sparked such heated controversy as the attempts made by certain rabbis and scholars to synchronize classical Jewish precepts and texts with the teachings of Greek philosophy. The towering figure-he who bestrode the nexus of Jewish law and theology like a colossus-was Maimonides. By bringing revelation and reason into harmony (how, and with what aim, remain contentious topics), Maimonides shaped the religious horizons and literary expression of countless writers for centuries; indeed, he still does. Beyond modeling a mastery of Greco-Arabic thought with exceptional acumen, Maimonides endorsed the radical proposition that knowledge of science and philosophy was essential for a true understanding of scripture and for worship of God in its purest form. These and cognate teachings could generate fervid scholarly clashes and, at times, broader controversies in the Jewish public square. Witness the battle over Maimonideanism that engulfed Europe's Jewries in the 1230s, which saw intra-and intercommunal bans, charges of heresy, and the writings of Maimonides being denounced to the Inquisition and burned. 1 Though Maimonides wrote no running biblical commentaries, his influence on the interpretation of scripture was immense, with many later commentators drawing on a repertoire of exegetical techniques and This research was supported by the Israel scIence FoundatIon (grant No. 350/19). 1 For a convenient overview of major controversies, see Raphael Jospe, Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Academic Studies Press, 2009), 558-569. For the controversy of the 1230s in relation to the features enumerated here, see Azriel Shohet, "Concerning the First Controversy on the Writings of Maimonides" [Hebrew], Zion 36 (1971), 45-52.
If a master of the art of writing commits such blunders as would shame an intelligent high-school... more If a master of the art of writing commits such blunders as would shame an intelligent high-school boy, it is reasonable to assume that they are intentional." This rule of reading was promoted by Leo Strauss (Strauss 1973: 30) as a way to gain entry into many philosophic works of the past. It reflects a view that philosophers often developed literary devices that allowed them to convey to an intellectual elite subversive truths that they simultaneously sought to conceal from "the many," whose allegiance to conventional religious or political opinion they did not wish to disturb. 1 As regards medieval Judaism's greatest philosophic tract, Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed, Strauss identified one such device as the work's "axis": "intentional contradictions, hidden from the vulgar" (Strauss 2013: 372, 377). But what of contradictions in works of writers standing at a far remove from the much-studied world of philosophic esotericism? 2 A parade example is medieval Judaism's most influential scholar, Solomon Isaaci of Troyes, known by his rabbinic acronym Rashi. Rashi's status as a "master of the art of writing" is assured. Indeed, successors often ascribed to his writing a level of excellence that put it in a class apart. Assessing Rashi's Talmud commentaries, Menahem Meiri stated that their author "could encompass in a single word responses to bundles of objections"
full PDF available upon request
Writing in his mid-twentieth-century compendium of midrashic interpretation Torah Šelemah, Menach... more Writing in his mid-twentieth-century compendium of midrashic interpretation Torah Šelemah, Menachem Kasher observed: From time immemorial and until our very day, Jew-haters seeking to beguile and subvert the multitude, to arouse hatred and to annihilate and murder the Jewish people, have deployed in their defamatory literature the [.. .] maxim: "the best of the Gentiles, kill." To such barbarous people [.. .] it is pointless to respond, to waste a drop of ink, since their aim and desire is not to know the truth [.. .]. However, there are in this world also righteous Gentiles, as well as many of our fellow Jews, who do wish to know the truth [.. .] [and] for them it is indeed urgent to clarify and explain the meaning of the aforementioned maxim.1 With these words, Kasher initiated a lengthy and, one must concede, highly apologetic discussion of a dictum ascribed to the second-century rabbinic sage Shimon bar Yoḥai: "The best of the Gentiles, kill (ṭov še-ba-goyyim harog); the best of snakes, crush its skull (moḥo)."2 As Kasher notes, detractors of Judaism had long summoned the midrash to expose the ostensibly malign view of-and even allegedly murderous intentions towards-Gentiles harbored by Jews and by the religious tradition to which they were allegiant. This study explores some of the many entries in a long-and emphatically ongoing-history of Jewish interpretations of R. Shimon's dictum. My tracing of twists and turns begins with a fleeting look at varied formulations of the dictum in diverse literary settings in the rabbinic corpus and continues with a slightly more expansive look at its recurrent role in medieval Jewish-Christian debate. The main focus, however, falls on readings of the midrash in commentaries on a work which, it seems safe to say, ensured more than any other that R. Shimon's idea would endure in Jewish consciousness: Rashi's Commentary on the Torah.
With respect to biblical scholarship, ‘humanism’ well sums up the innovative focus among Renaissa... more With respect to biblical scholarship, ‘humanism’ well sums up the innovative focus among Renaissance scholars on the human as opposed to the divine side of biblical texts. In Jewish tradition, no writer exemplifies this novel focus - and the audacious results it could yield - more than Isaac Abarbanel. who composed most of his vast literary corpus in Renaissance Italy after Spanish Jewry’s 1492 expulsion. This article studies a startling manifestation of Abarbanel’s exegetical humanism that appears in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah, written in Venice in 1504: the claim that many of Jeremiah’s oral and written expressions suffered from a diversity of imperfections. This account includes the remarkable historicizing explanation that prophetic expression is traceable to aspects of the prophet’s biography and historical setting.
The article traces elements of continuity in Abarbanel’s presentation with medieval (especially Maimonidean) teachings on the human side of prophecy as they stand at the nexus of Greco-Arabic philosophic poetics, psychology, and prophetology. At the same time, it identifies dimensions of that presentation consonant with ideas and habits of mind attested by Renaissance humanists. In short, this case study shows how Abarbanel’s approach to Jeremiah reflects an unusual confluence of intellectual traditions born of his status as a transitional figure from medieval to early modem times. More broadly, it opens a window on shifts in scriptural commentary that lead some modem scholars to regard Renaissance humanism as the beginning of developments that lie at the heart of modern biblical scholarship.
![Research paper thumbnail of Eric Lawee, Hindy Najman, and Ishay-Rosen-Zvi, “Yaakov Kaduri: Teacher and Scholar,” in Michael Avioz, Eric Lawee, Yosef Ofer, eds., Presented to Yaakov Kaduri [=Studies in Bible and Exegesis, vol. 11] (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2020), 11-17 (Hebrew)](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/77146656/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](
Though Jewish expressions of admiration for the achievements of Christendom are far from the norm... more Though Jewish expressions of admiration for the achievements of Christendom are far from the norm in the Middle Ages, some Jewish scholars in Italy and southern France begin to express awareness of various Christian achievements in the thirteenth century. This pattern finds expression in centuries following in an impressive range of writings produced by Jewish scholars in Spain. The article describes and analyzes the contours and character of this in many ways unexpected development during the last century and a half of Jewish life on Spanish soil, noting the shadings in different views and highlighting striking counter-currents. In treating the evolving Jewish attitudes in question, the article draws on evidence from a wide array of disciplines and uses “culture” as a conceptual category. The result is to throw light on a little-noticed feature in the complex story of late medieval Jewish-Christian interaction that saw some Jewish scholars draw an implicit distinction between religion and culture (Christianity versus Christendom).
תקציר עברי
'אומת אדום העדינה': גישות יהודיות משתנות לתרבות הנוצרית בספרד בשלהי ימי הביניים
למרות שגילויי הערצה יהודיים כלפי הישגי העולם הנוצרי אינם שכיחים בימי הביניים, ובודאי שאין הם בבחינת מנהג רווח, מספר משכילים באיטליה ודרום צרפת מתחילים להביע מודעות ביחס להישגיהם של הנוצרים בתחומים שונים במאה השלוש עשרה. תופעה זו מוצאת את ביטויה במאות שלאחר מכן במגוון מרשים של כתבים פרי עטם של מחברים יהודיים על אדמת ספרד. המאמר מתאר ומנתח את אופייה וגלגולה של תופעה זו, שמבחינות רבות משקפת התפתחות בלתי צפויה מצדם של יהודים בשבתם בספרד במהלך מאה וחמישים השנים שקדמו לגירושם, תוך הצבעה על ייחודן של הגישות השונות והבלטתן של מגמות-נגד. בבוחנו את הגישות היהודיות המשתנות בנידון, המאמר מסתמך על עדויות מתחומי יצירה וכתיבה רבים ומגוונים ורואה במונח 'תרבות' קטגוריה מושגית. כתוצאה מכך מתגלה מאפיין שלא זכה להבלטה מספיקה בעבר, הנוגע לסיפור המורכב של המפגש היהודי-נוצרי בשלהי ימי-הביניים: חלק מהמלומדים היהודים בספרד מחילים הבחנה מובלעת בין דת לתרבות.
Kobetz Al Yad / קבץ על יד ' , 2018
The Book of Strictures, the work of an unknown late medieval rationalist, is the most concentrate... more The Book of Strictures, the work of an unknown late medieval rationalist, is the most concentrated assault on Rashi’s biblical scholarship in the annals of Jewish literature. This article situates this peculiar specimen of late medieval Jewish rationalism in a variety of intellectual and socioreligious contexts and presents a critical edition of the work.
This article offers orientation in a form of Jewish biblical scholarship that has received too li... more This article offers orientation in a form of Jewish biblical scholarship that has received too little attention: commentaries on biblical commentaries, or "exegetical supercommentaries." In so doing, the article introduces a procession of scholars who undertook to explain one of the three classic commentaries on the Torah of Rashi, abraham Ibn Ezra, and Moses ben Nahman. These authors sometimes reflected on the nature of their chosen genre. Secondary writers though they were, they often evince a sense an autonomous interpretive sense. as participants in the Jewish com mentary tradition, they directed readers to particular understandings of the classic commentaries, seeing in supercommentary a contribution to learning worthy of their intellectual energy and literary aspirations. with insights regarding the genre of supercommentaries in hand, conjoined with findings from the many local studies of supercommentaries that still await, scholars can begin to appreciate the place that exegetical supercommentaries occupy in the Jewish respublica litterarum. RÉSUMÉ Cet article offre un regard sur une forme d'érudition biblique juive qui a reçu trop peu d'attention jusqu'ici : les commentaires sur les commentaires bibliques, ou «supercommentaires exégétiques». Pour ce faire, on y présente les travaux de savants qui ont entrepris d'expliquer l'un des trois commentaires classiques sur la Torah de Rashi, d'abraham ibn Ezra et de Moïse ben Nahman. Ces auteurs ont parfois réfléchi sur la nature du genre qu'ils pratiquent. En dépit du fait qu'il s'agit d'écrivains secondaires, ils témoignent souvent d'un sens interprétatif autonome. Participant à la tradition exégétique juive, ils ont cherché à mener leurs lecteurs vers une com préhension particulière des commentaires classiques, en voyant dans le genre du supercommentaire une contribution au savoir, digne de leur énergie intellectuelle * The research for this study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 256/14). It also received generous support from Keren Beit Shalom, Kyoto, Japan and the asher weiser Chair for Research in Medieval Jewish Biblical Interpretation. I wish to thank two anonymous readers and walid Saleh for helpful suggestions. Responsibility for remaining errors or over sights remains mine.
This book explores the reception history of the most important Jewish Bible commentary ever compo... more This book explores the reception history of the most important Jewish Bible commentary ever composed, the Commentary on the Torah of Rashi (Shlomo Yitzhaki; 1040-1105). Though the Commentary has benefited from enormous scholarly attention, analysis of diverse reactions to it has been surprisingly scant. Viewing its path to preeminence through a wide array of religious, intellectual, literary, and sociocultural lenses, Eric Lawee focuses on processes of the Commentary's canonization and on a hitherto unexamined—and wholly unexpected—feature of its reception: critical, and at times astonishingly harsh, resistance to it. Lawee shows how and why, despite such resistance, Rashi's interpretation of the Torah became an exegetical classic, a staple in the curriculum, a source of shared religious vocabulary for Jews across time and place, and a foundational text that shaped the Jewish nation's collective identity.
The book takes as its larger integrating perspective processes of canonicity as they shape how traditions flourish, disintegrate, or evolve. Rashi's scriptural magnum opus, the foremost work of Franco-German (Ashkenazic) biblical scholarship, faced stiff competition for canonical supremacy in the form of rationalist reconfigurations of Judaism as they developed in Mediterranean seats of learning. It nevertheless emerged triumphant in an intense battle for Judaism's future that unfolded in late medieval and early modern times. Investigation of the reception of the Commentary throws light on issues in Jewish scholarship and spirituality that continue to stir reflection, and even passionate debate, in the Jewish world today.
Financier and courtier to the kings of Portugal, Spain, and Italy and Spanish Jewry's foremost re... more Financier and courtier to the kings of Portugal, Spain, and Italy and Spanish Jewry's foremost representative at court at the time of its 1492 expulsion, Isaac Abarbanel was also Judaism's leading scholar at the turn of the sixteenth century. His work has had a profound influence on both his contemporaries and later thinkers, Jewish and Christian. Isaac Abarbanel's Stance Toward Tradition is the first full-length study of Abarbanel in half a century. The book considers a wide range of Abarbanel's writings, focusing for the first time on the dominant exegetical side of his intellectual achievements as reflected in biblical commentaries and messianic writings. Author Eric Lawee approaches Abarbanel's work from the perspective of his negotiations with texts and teachings bequeathed to him from the Jewish past. The work provides insight into the important spiritual and intellectual developments in late medieval and early modern Judaism while offering a portrait of a complex scholar whose stance before tradition combined conservatism with creativity and reverence with daring.
"This exceedingly rich and well-written book offers students of Jewish intellectual history and historians of scriptural exegesis, for the first time, a study of Abarbanel as biblical commentator. Lawee argues convincingly for Abarbanel's merit as a 'harvester' and a 'builder'--harvesting the fruits of his predecessors and building his own edifice upon their efforts. This book is bound to become the definitive study of medieval Jewry's last great biblical parshan (commentator)." -- Charles H. Manekin, coeditor of The Jewish Philosophy Reader
"Lawee's nuanced analysis results in a more accurate understanding of Abarbanel's legacy in the context of Renaissance humanism. Abarbanel emerges as a deeply learned Jewish intellectual, who defended Judaism against its detractors by entering a creative dialogue with ancient, medieval, and contemporary authors." -- Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, Arizona State University
Hebrew Union College Annual, 2024
In his lone surviving work, a fifteenth-century rationalist from Crete, Zecharyah ben Moshe, defe... more In his lone surviving work, a fifteenth-century rationalist from Crete, Zecharyah ben Moshe, defends Abraham ibn Ezra and Maimonides from strictures made against them by their most formidable critic, Nahmanides. The title under which Zecharyah’s tract comes down in some manuscripts, Offering of Zeal (מנחת קנאות), captures the work’s dual nature: a literary oblation to pillars of medieval Jewish rationalist biblical interpretation that takes the form of zealous criticisms of one whom Zecharyah characterizes as their unworthy, and even unscrupulous, rival. My article explores Zecharyah’s skillfully wrought poetic preface, concentrating on its conceptual components, contextual elements, and depictions of his work’s three dramatis personae. One appendix supplies the poem in the original with English translation; another the colophon to a manuscript of the poem not included in a recent critical edition. Study of Zecharyah’s work yields insights into such larger topics as late medieval Byzantine Hebrew biblical scholarship and the astonishingly under-researched afterlife of Nahmanides’ highly influential commentary on the Torah. Zecharyah’s work may safely be considered the ne plus ultra of anti-Nahmanidean criticism in the annals of Jewish literature.
Abstract: Among biblical accounts that invite skepticism, the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis... more Abstract: Among biblical accounts that invite skepticism, the antediluvian genealogies of Genesis have long attracted attention, with Methuselah famously living close to a millennium and others nearly as long. This study explores an analysis of the issue and its cognates in Revealer of Secrets (Zafenat pa'neah), a fourteenth-century Torah commentary by Eleazar Ashkenazi that has only recently reentered the light of history. Striking is Eleazar's teaching that Moses composed the chrono-genealogies in Genesis based on sundry traditions that contained imprecise narrative hyperboles." Eleazar also suggests that the patriarchal narratives are a "noble ruse" designed to inculcate belief in the world's creation. Eleazar’s exploration of the topic pro-vides an entree into the fertile mind and spirited pen of this barely known late medieval rationalist as well as into an unstudied chapter in the history of Jewish reflection on a challenging biblical crux that evoked much reflection and a rich medley of larger religious themes.
Medieval Jewish readings of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, remain almost entirely oblivious to... more Medieval Jewish readings of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, remain almost entirely oblivious to the antinomy between ethics and the revealed divine command that many modem interpretations find at the heart of the story. This study explores an exception, the teaching of the fourteenth-century rationalist, Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan Ha-Bavli. In his Revealer of Secrets, Eleazar seeks a remedy for what he takes to be the theological and moral scandals that arise when the Akedah is read according to its plain sense. While Eleazar’s treatment of the Akedah builds in many ways on that of Maimonides, it also adds novel layers regarding this most difficult of biblical accounts. For this reason, the study begins with a substantial review of Maimonides’ intentionally elusive treatment of the Akedah and its reception among some represen-tative later medieval interlocutors. Turning to its main focus, the article supplies a case study in medieval Jewish rationalism at its limits, in both matter and manner.
The essay provides an aerial view of selected key developments in recent academic explorations of... more The essay provides an aerial view of selected key developments in recent academic explorations of Jewish religion, theology, and thought in medieval through incipient modern times. To provide an integrating perspective for so broad an overview in so brief a compass, it appends to the already bulky title a further specification: "with emphasis on the 'cultural turn.'" The aim is to evoke some high points, note conspicuous patterns and new departures, and venture a brief assessment of the state of the field (such as it is one) and its prospects.
קשריו של אדם הראשון עם בעלי החיים: יסודות ימי ביניימים תהודות מהעת החדשה : זכרה לאהרן: קובץ מחקר... more קשריו של אדם הראשון עם בעלי החיים: יסודות ימי ביניימים תהודות מהעת החדשה
: זכרה לאהרן: קובץ מחקרים במקרא ובפרשנותו – ספר זיכרון לפרופ' אהרן מונדשיין
Jewish History, 2022
This article explores marginal notations in a manuscript of a resolutely rationalist commentary o... more This article explores marginal notations in a manuscript of a resolutely rationalist commentary on the Torah written by the barely known fourteenth-century Maimonidean, Eleazar Ashkenazi. The notations belong to Ephraim ben Shabbetai, who completed his codex in Venetian Crete in 1399. Though Ephraim's comments are episodic and relatively few, study of them can serve as a vehicle for bringing the world of medieval Hebrew marginalia, and receptions of rationalist biblical scholarship, to life. After situating Eleazar's work and Ephraim's reproduction of it within a variety of late medieval eastern Mediterranean scribal and rationalist contexts, the article provides a taxonomy of Ephraim's marginalia, which range from commendation to a note that seeks to justify Ephraim's expurgation of a passage in Eleazar's work that he and his teacher deemed religiously intolerable. Findings in the field of marginalia studies inform the discussion as does the notion of a "manuscript matrix," a coinage of Stephen Nichols that aims to replace conceptions of manuscripts as inert places of inscription with one that sees them as an interactive space inviting ongoing interpretive activity. While Ephraim's marginalia yield no fully realized portrait of their author, they provide an entry into his mindset, not to mention his status as a reader with a mind of his own. In several cases, Ephraim's comments mark a point where a learned Jew's informed responses and his passionate religious attachments meet. Study of marginal notations like the ones explored here illustrates how manuscripts and their creators served as instruments for transmitting and shaping Jewish knowledge. Keywords Marginalia • Biblical commentary • Rationalism • Ephraim ben Shabbetai • Eleazar Ashkenazi Medieval manuscripts often come "dressed, bedecked, adorned," be it with prefatory matter, illustrations or, "most importantly, marginal notes." 1 When considered in light of its marginalia (and other peritextual elements), a work in a handwritten codex becomes a composite literary artifact. 2 The following
Jewish Quarterly Review, 2022
Portraits of Abraham often bear the distinctive stamp of their creators, a fact attested in spiri... more Portraits of Abraham often bear the distinctive stamp of their creators, a fact attested in spiritual biographies of the patriarch in medieval Jewish literature. An example is Abraham as portrayed in the pages of a Torah commentary by the fourteenth-century Maimonidean Eleazar Ashkenazi ben Nathan ha-Bavli. In step with Maimonidean models, this Abraham ardently cultivates noesis as the principal religious activity. At the same time, he puts himself in grave danger in order to promote a revolutionary monotheistic teaching. While often taking his bearings from Maimonides, Eleazar can imbue Maimonidean ideas and interpretations with new resonances and turn them in novel directions. In his account of Abraham’s career as a monotheist missionary, Eleazar portrays Abraham in a manner without Maimonidean precedent when he imputes to the patriarch the use of mockery as a device to breach idolatrous ignorance. Eleazar emulates Abraham’s use of ridicule in his campaign on rationality’s behalf. Yet where Eleazar’s Abraham uses mockery against pagan irrationality, Eleazar deploys it to deride fruits of the midrashic hermeneutic and its foremost medieval spokesperson, Rashi. Put otherwise, Eleazar ridicules midrashim that threaten to turn the divine word into a propagator of the sort of unscientific myths Abraham so heroically opposed. In so doing, he positions himself in a line of enlighteners standing at the perennial crossroads between rational religion and popular faith.
ElEazar ashkEnazi on thE longEvity of thE anciEnts A mong the many spiritual and intellectual inn... more ElEazar ashkEnazi on thE longEvity of thE anciEnts A mong the many spiritual and intellectual innovations that arose in the Jewish Middle Ages, none sparked such heated controversy as the attempts made by certain rabbis and scholars to synchronize classical Jewish precepts and texts with the teachings of Greek philosophy. The towering figure-he who bestrode the nexus of Jewish law and theology like a colossus-was Maimonides. By bringing revelation and reason into harmony (how, and with what aim, remain contentious topics), Maimonides shaped the religious horizons and literary expression of countless writers for centuries; indeed, he still does. Beyond modeling a mastery of Greco-Arabic thought with exceptional acumen, Maimonides endorsed the radical proposition that knowledge of science and philosophy was essential for a true understanding of scripture and for worship of God in its purest form. These and cognate teachings could generate fervid scholarly clashes and, at times, broader controversies in the Jewish public square. Witness the battle over Maimonideanism that engulfed Europe's Jewries in the 1230s, which saw intra-and intercommunal bans, charges of heresy, and the writings of Maimonides being denounced to the Inquisition and burned. 1 Though Maimonides wrote no running biblical commentaries, his influence on the interpretation of scripture was immense, with many later commentators drawing on a repertoire of exegetical techniques and This research was supported by the Israel scIence FoundatIon (grant No. 350/19). 1 For a convenient overview of major controversies, see Raphael Jospe, Jewish Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Academic Studies Press, 2009), 558-569. For the controversy of the 1230s in relation to the features enumerated here, see Azriel Shohet, "Concerning the First Controversy on the Writings of Maimonides" [Hebrew], Zion 36 (1971), 45-52.
If a master of the art of writing commits such blunders as would shame an intelligent high-school... more If a master of the art of writing commits such blunders as would shame an intelligent high-school boy, it is reasonable to assume that they are intentional." This rule of reading was promoted by Leo Strauss (Strauss 1973: 30) as a way to gain entry into many philosophic works of the past. It reflects a view that philosophers often developed literary devices that allowed them to convey to an intellectual elite subversive truths that they simultaneously sought to conceal from "the many," whose allegiance to conventional religious or political opinion they did not wish to disturb. 1 As regards medieval Judaism's greatest philosophic tract, Maimonides's Guide of the Perplexed, Strauss identified one such device as the work's "axis": "intentional contradictions, hidden from the vulgar" (Strauss 2013: 372, 377). But what of contradictions in works of writers standing at a far remove from the much-studied world of philosophic esotericism? 2 A parade example is medieval Judaism's most influential scholar, Solomon Isaaci of Troyes, known by his rabbinic acronym Rashi. Rashi's status as a "master of the art of writing" is assured. Indeed, successors often ascribed to his writing a level of excellence that put it in a class apart. Assessing Rashi's Talmud commentaries, Menahem Meiri stated that their author "could encompass in a single word responses to bundles of objections"
full PDF available upon request
Writing in his mid-twentieth-century compendium of midrashic interpretation Torah Šelemah, Menach... more Writing in his mid-twentieth-century compendium of midrashic interpretation Torah Šelemah, Menachem Kasher observed: From time immemorial and until our very day, Jew-haters seeking to beguile and subvert the multitude, to arouse hatred and to annihilate and murder the Jewish people, have deployed in their defamatory literature the [.. .] maxim: "the best of the Gentiles, kill." To such barbarous people [.. .] it is pointless to respond, to waste a drop of ink, since their aim and desire is not to know the truth [.. .]. However, there are in this world also righteous Gentiles, as well as many of our fellow Jews, who do wish to know the truth [.. .] [and] for them it is indeed urgent to clarify and explain the meaning of the aforementioned maxim.1 With these words, Kasher initiated a lengthy and, one must concede, highly apologetic discussion of a dictum ascribed to the second-century rabbinic sage Shimon bar Yoḥai: "The best of the Gentiles, kill (ṭov še-ba-goyyim harog); the best of snakes, crush its skull (moḥo)."2 As Kasher notes, detractors of Judaism had long summoned the midrash to expose the ostensibly malign view of-and even allegedly murderous intentions towards-Gentiles harbored by Jews and by the religious tradition to which they were allegiant. This study explores some of the many entries in a long-and emphatically ongoing-history of Jewish interpretations of R. Shimon's dictum. My tracing of twists and turns begins with a fleeting look at varied formulations of the dictum in diverse literary settings in the rabbinic corpus and continues with a slightly more expansive look at its recurrent role in medieval Jewish-Christian debate. The main focus, however, falls on readings of the midrash in commentaries on a work which, it seems safe to say, ensured more than any other that R. Shimon's idea would endure in Jewish consciousness: Rashi's Commentary on the Torah.
With respect to biblical scholarship, ‘humanism’ well sums up the innovative focus among Renaissa... more With respect to biblical scholarship, ‘humanism’ well sums up the innovative focus among Renaissance scholars on the human as opposed to the divine side of biblical texts. In Jewish tradition, no writer exemplifies this novel focus - and the audacious results it could yield - more than Isaac Abarbanel. who composed most of his vast literary corpus in Renaissance Italy after Spanish Jewry’s 1492 expulsion. This article studies a startling manifestation of Abarbanel’s exegetical humanism that appears in his commentary on the book of Jeremiah, written in Venice in 1504: the claim that many of Jeremiah’s oral and written expressions suffered from a diversity of imperfections. This account includes the remarkable historicizing explanation that prophetic expression is traceable to aspects of the prophet’s biography and historical setting.
The article traces elements of continuity in Abarbanel’s presentation with medieval (especially Maimonidean) teachings on the human side of prophecy as they stand at the nexus of Greco-Arabic philosophic poetics, psychology, and prophetology. At the same time, it identifies dimensions of that presentation consonant with ideas and habits of mind attested by Renaissance humanists. In short, this case study shows how Abarbanel’s approach to Jeremiah reflects an unusual confluence of intellectual traditions born of his status as a transitional figure from medieval to early modem times. More broadly, it opens a window on shifts in scriptural commentary that lead some modem scholars to regard Renaissance humanism as the beginning of developments that lie at the heart of modern biblical scholarship.
Though Jewish expressions of admiration for the achievements of Christendom are far from the norm... more Though Jewish expressions of admiration for the achievements of Christendom are far from the norm in the Middle Ages, some Jewish scholars in Italy and southern France begin to express awareness of various Christian achievements in the thirteenth century. This pattern finds expression in centuries following in an impressive range of writings produced by Jewish scholars in Spain. The article describes and analyzes the contours and character of this in many ways unexpected development during the last century and a half of Jewish life on Spanish soil, noting the shadings in different views and highlighting striking counter-currents. In treating the evolving Jewish attitudes in question, the article draws on evidence from a wide array of disciplines and uses “culture” as a conceptual category. The result is to throw light on a little-noticed feature in the complex story of late medieval Jewish-Christian interaction that saw some Jewish scholars draw an implicit distinction between religion and culture (Christianity versus Christendom).
תקציר עברי
'אומת אדום העדינה': גישות יהודיות משתנות לתרבות הנוצרית בספרד בשלהי ימי הביניים
למרות שגילויי הערצה יהודיים כלפי הישגי העולם הנוצרי אינם שכיחים בימי הביניים, ובודאי שאין הם בבחינת מנהג רווח, מספר משכילים באיטליה ודרום צרפת מתחילים להביע מודעות ביחס להישגיהם של הנוצרים בתחומים שונים במאה השלוש עשרה. תופעה זו מוצאת את ביטויה במאות שלאחר מכן במגוון מרשים של כתבים פרי עטם של מחברים יהודיים על אדמת ספרד. המאמר מתאר ומנתח את אופייה וגלגולה של תופעה זו, שמבחינות רבות משקפת התפתחות בלתי צפויה מצדם של יהודים בשבתם בספרד במהלך מאה וחמישים השנים שקדמו לגירושם, תוך הצבעה על ייחודן של הגישות השונות והבלטתן של מגמות-נגד. בבוחנו את הגישות היהודיות המשתנות בנידון, המאמר מסתמך על עדויות מתחומי יצירה וכתיבה רבים ומגוונים ורואה במונח 'תרבות' קטגוריה מושגית. כתוצאה מכך מתגלה מאפיין שלא זכה להבלטה מספיקה בעבר, הנוגע לסיפור המורכב של המפגש היהודי-נוצרי בשלהי ימי-הביניים: חלק מהמלומדים היהודים בספרד מחילים הבחנה מובלעת בין דת לתרבות.
Kobetz Al Yad / קבץ על יד ' , 2018
The Book of Strictures, the work of an unknown late medieval rationalist, is the most concentrate... more The Book of Strictures, the work of an unknown late medieval rationalist, is the most concentrated assault on Rashi’s biblical scholarship in the annals of Jewish literature. This article situates this peculiar specimen of late medieval Jewish rationalism in a variety of intellectual and socioreligious contexts and presents a critical edition of the work.
This article offers orientation in a form of Jewish biblical scholarship that has received too li... more This article offers orientation in a form of Jewish biblical scholarship that has received too little attention: commentaries on biblical commentaries, or "exegetical supercommentaries." In so doing, the article introduces a procession of scholars who undertook to explain one of the three classic commentaries on the Torah of Rashi, abraham Ibn Ezra, and Moses ben Nahman. These authors sometimes reflected on the nature of their chosen genre. Secondary writers though they were, they often evince a sense an autonomous interpretive sense. as participants in the Jewish com mentary tradition, they directed readers to particular understandings of the classic commentaries, seeing in supercommentary a contribution to learning worthy of their intellectual energy and literary aspirations. with insights regarding the genre of supercommentaries in hand, conjoined with findings from the many local studies of supercommentaries that still await, scholars can begin to appreciate the place that exegetical supercommentaries occupy in the Jewish respublica litterarum. RÉSUMÉ Cet article offre un regard sur une forme d'érudition biblique juive qui a reçu trop peu d'attention jusqu'ici : les commentaires sur les commentaires bibliques, ou «supercommentaires exégétiques». Pour ce faire, on y présente les travaux de savants qui ont entrepris d'expliquer l'un des trois commentaires classiques sur la Torah de Rashi, d'abraham ibn Ezra et de Moïse ben Nahman. Ces auteurs ont parfois réfléchi sur la nature du genre qu'ils pratiquent. En dépit du fait qu'il s'agit d'écrivains secondaires, ils témoignent souvent d'un sens interprétatif autonome. Participant à la tradition exégétique juive, ils ont cherché à mener leurs lecteurs vers une com préhension particulière des commentaires classiques, en voyant dans le genre du supercommentaire une contribution au savoir, digne de leur énergie intellectuelle * The research for this study was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 256/14). It also received generous support from Keren Beit Shalom, Kyoto, Japan and the asher weiser Chair for Research in Medieval Jewish Biblical Interpretation. I wish to thank two anonymous readers and walid Saleh for helpful suggestions. Responsibility for remaining errors or over sights remains mine.
The aim of this article is twofold: to open a window on ethical themes in medieval Jewish biblica... more The aim of this article is twofold: to open a window on ethical themes in medieval Jewish biblical commentaries and to illustrate how such works can catalyze explorations of issues in Jewish ethics in the university classroom. The article takes its inspiration from a course taught at Bar-Ilan University in Israel bearing the title "Medieval Jewish Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present." In addition to its investigation of the medieval commentaries, the article exemplifies one pedagogical strategy employed in the course that sees these texts put in dialogue with a range of post-medieval literary and artistic expressions from Caravaggio to John Lennon and, especially, works of Israeli art, poetry, and song. Apart from adding interest and surprise, this strategy underscores the enduring nature of the issues addressed by the medieval commentators, which include
Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Printable Ver... more Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=54753 Among the religious and intellectual innovations in which medieval Judaism abounds, none sparked controversy more than the attempt of certain rabbis and scholars to promote teachings of ancient Greek philosophy. Most notable, of course, was Moses Maimonides, the foremost legist and theologian of the age. Not only did he cultivate Greco-Arabic philosophy and science, but he also taught the radical proposition that knowledge of some of its branches was essential for a true understanding of revealed scripture and for worship of God in its purest form.
problematic given the contempt Jewish particularism still elicited from the British cultural main... more problematic given the contempt Jewish particularism still elicited from the British cultural mainstream.
Book Reviews however, detracts from the close and patient engagement of rabbinic sources (the Bav... more Book Reviews however, detracts from the close and patient engagement of rabbinic sources (the Bavli first and foremost) on display throughout. The readings are consistently interesting, often innovative, and always stimulating, and to fully appreciate them, one need only read the book as a series of discrete studies rather than as chapters unfolding a single theme.
Book Reviews been [previously] omitted" means, as Yadin claims, that the verse is instructing th ... more Book Reviews been [previously] omitted" means, as Yadin claims, that the verse is instructing th reader in hermeneutical methodology rather than simply supplying halakhic information (127). Moreover, given his careful and incisive reading of numerous rabbinic texts, it is surprising and disappointing that he explains a number of rabbini terms and phrases incorrectly. Thus, for example, a tevulyom is not "[one who has been] ritually immersed in water and then purified by the setting of the sun" (159 but rather someone in a state of partial purity obtained after immersion but befor sunset. Yadin also errs in his interpretations of the bekhor sacrifice (90), the term 'akhilat za 'ar (122), and, contrary to Geiger, ben shel kayama (157-58).
cultural policies and historical events are oversimplified, and th his aesthetic quest and preocc... more cultural policies and historical events are oversimplified, and th his aesthetic quest and preoccupations, and the emotional com ings do not fully emerge in this thought-provoking book.
Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 339 Reviews Estes' equation of the notion of righteousness expressed in ... more Hebrew Studies 40 (1999) 339 Reviews Estes' equation of the notion of righteousness expressed in Proverbs 1-9 with Deuteronomy's representation of covenant obedience is also prob lematic. It is true that one can argue the two books are describing a virtu ally identical ethical system, and Moshe Weinfeld (in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomio School, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972) has ably laid the
"Exemplary scholarship written in a style that will keep you engaged and turning its pages. "-Jud... more "Exemplary scholarship written in a style that will keep you engaged and turning its pages. "-Judges' Remarks, National Jewish Book Award
"After finishing this book, one feels that one has just put down a great piece of scholarship. A book that is deserving of its forthcoming awards. One that will now be on the reading list of every Jewish educator who teaches Rashi and on the reading list of every graduate student. The years put into this project show in the wonderful final product. ... This book is groundbreaking for opening up new avenues of research on Rashi's thought, on medieval intellectual trends, and on the exegetic imagination. "-Alan Brill, Cooperman/Ross Endowed Professor
"This is the first comprehensive examination of the reception of the Bible Commentary of Rabbi Solomon Isaaci of Troyes, known as Rashi, much of it based on new and original research. It is an excellent book by an erudite, responsible, and articulate scholar. "-Warren Zev Harvey, Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"The commentary of Rashi on the Torah is without doubt the most widely known, accepted, and studied commentary in the Jewish world. It was also influential among the Christian Hebraists. Until now, no one has tried to tell this story in depth, a story that should be of interest not only to students of biblical exegesis, but to all students of Jewish medieval thought and culture. Eric Lawee has written a book of first rate scholarship and told a fascinating, multifaceted story. "-Haim Kreisel Director of the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev 3 0 % O F F ! April 2021 34.9534.95 34.9524.47 | £22.99 £16.09 Paperback | 9780197584354 | 496 pages Order online at www.oup.com/academic with promo code AAFLYG6 to save 30% Eric Lawee is Professor of Bible at Bar-Ilan University where he specializes in Jewish biblical interpretation in medieval and modern times. Rashi's Commentary on the Torah Canonization and Resistance in the Reception of a Jewish Classic Eric Lawee R ashi's Commentary on the Torah explores how and why the Commentary has left so indelible an imprint on generations of Jews and the processes that turned it into the closest thing Judaism has to a canonical commentary on scripture.
"Lawee’s book is an example of exemplary scholarship written in a style that will keep you engage... more "Lawee’s book is an example of exemplary scholarship written in a style that will keep you engaged and turning its pages."
Review of Biblical Literature, 2021
"The writing throughout is precise, elegant, and dense, befitting a book of impeccable scholarshi... more "The writing throughout is precise, elegant, and dense, befitting a book of impeccable scholarship and discerning analysis. … In sum, this is a book that both makes original contributions to important fields and surveys broad swaths of larger areas of inquiry. It repays its readers at every turn."
Lawee's brilliant exploration of the often reverential yet sometimes irreverently critical recept... more Lawee's brilliant exploration of the often reverential yet sometimes irreverently critical reception of Rashi’s commentary by readers in different geographical regions and ideological camps over the past near millennium is a veritable tour de force. Lawee's elegant and erudite prose, peppered with a dexterous dash of wit and whimsy, flavored with creative and engaging alliterations, and blended with healthy measures of well-seasoned scholarship, finely sifted sources, and rich annotation, has produced a feast for the minds of ravenous readers in the area of Jewish intellectual history in general, and the history of biblical exegesis in particular.
JJS, 2021
The study is ambitious in its scope, thoroughly researched and authoritative, judicious in its ev... more The study is ambitious in its scope, thoroughly researched and authoritative, judicious in its evaluations and extremely well written.
Tradition, 2021
It is very unusual for a scholar to identify a subject of manifestly great importance that has ba... more It is very unusual for a scholar to identify a subject of manifestly great importance that has barely been addressed, but Eric Lawee has succeeded in doing so.... We owe Lawee a debt of gratitude for his sweeping, learned, and original contribution to our understanding of how this classic text achieved its well-deserved renown.
REJ, 2020
... en tout point remarquable, expose dans une langue riche, d’une pensee parfois subtile et info... more ... en tout point remarquable, expose dans une langue riche, d’une
pensee parfois subtile et informee de theories de l'hermeneutique au-dela des necessites primaires de l'histoire des commentaires juifs, cependant toujours clairement exposee.
I enthusiastically recommend this book as providing a valuable orientation to late medieval and e... more I enthusiastically recommend this book as providing a valuable orientation to late medieval and early modern Jewish biblical exegesis, which represents a “golden age” well worth the attention of modern scholars of the Bible. Illuminating discussions among the various medieval exegetes on the interpretation of specific biblical passages are found throughout.
This volume definitively tells the story of how Rashi’s Torah commentary achieved its place in th... more This volume definitively tells the story of how Rashi’s Torah commentary achieved its place in the post-talmudic Jewish canon.
This is a magisterium -- and an essential read for all who desire to quote from RCT in their own ... more This is a magisterium -- and an essential read for all who desire to quote from RCT in their own works.
Daniel J. Crowther
Desde los orígenes de la historia de la gramática hebrea se ha considerado, de modo unánime y con... more Desde los orígenes de la historia de la gramática hebrea se ha considerado, de modo unánime y constante, a Abù l-Walîd Ibn µanâç, llamado habitualmente en los documentos hebreos como R. Yoná y en otros R. Merinos, como el mayor de los gramáticos hebreos, tanto en teoría gramatical como en lexicografía. Lo llamativo y sorprendente es que Ibn µanâç desarrolla su actividad literaria tan sólo una generación después de la eclosión de la gramática científica del hebreo con ·ayyûå (m. ca. 1000) y en sólo unos treinta años lleva la gramática hebrea a su plenitud. Para Ibn µanâç, ·ayyûå es el máximo "benefactor de todos aquellos que se dedican al estudio de la lengua hebrea"; "sus escritos son el mar de donde nosotros extraemos los conocimientos". Sus logros propios personales en la ciencia gramatical los atribuye Ibn µanâç a su constancia en el estudio: "no he alcanzado esta ciencia sino a través de la investigación constante, la reflexión y el esfuerzo permanente, de noche y de día, como si estuviera motivado por una pasión que ha penetrado en mi corazón" (Riqma). En gramática compuso primeramente toda una serie de obras menores: 1) Kitâb al-Mustalçaq ["Libro de lo anexionado"], Sefer ha-Toséfet ("Libro de la adicción"), llamado también Sefer ha-Haòòaga ("Libro de la crítica"), ya que, en último término, es una crítica a los dos libros punteros de ·ayyûå; 2) Kitâb al-Tanbîh ["Libro de la Admonición"], en la traducción hebrea Iggéret ha-He{ara ("Carta de la advertencia"); 3) Risâla l-taqrîb wa-l-tashîl ["Carta del acercamiento y de la facilitación"), en hebreo Sefer ha-qerub we-ha-yiššur; 4) Kitâb al-tašwir [Libro del avergonzamiento], en hebreo "Sefer ha-Hakhlama"; 5) Kitâb al-taswiya ["Libro de la clarificación"], en hebreo "Sefer ha-Hashlama)". Ibn µanâç culmina su quehacer de gramático con su opus magnum, el Kitâb al-tanqîç (Libro de la gramática), Sefer ha-Diqduq, que tiene dos partes, una gramatical, 6) Kitâb al-Luma{ ("Libro de los arriates floridos"), Sefer ha-Riqmá y otra lexicográfica, 7)
... a lovely and extraordinarily fruitful book; [a] supremely well informed and brilliant volume.
Hebrew Union College Annual, 2024
HUC Press is pleased to announce the publication of the Hebrew Union College Annual vol. 94. The... more HUC Press is pleased to announce the publication of the Hebrew Union College Annual vol. 94.
The volume is available in a print edition or on JSTOR and ATLA with no moving wall.
Contents:
“Two Are Better than One”: The Conceptual and Thematic Use of Numbers in Ecclesiastes
Katharine J. Dell and Tova Forti
University of Cambridge; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
“The Fear of the Lord is Wisdom”? A Consideration of Job 28 as a Sarcastic Response to the Wisdom Tradition
Kyle R. Greenwood
Development Associates International
“And Who Wrote Them?” (Bava Batra 14b–15a) The List of Biblical Authors, Its Sources, Principles, and Dating
Eran Viezel
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Merciful, Shamefaced, and Kind: Israel’s Character in y. Qiddushin 4:1 and b. Yevamot 79a
Kacie Klamm
University of Notre Dame
Recognizing the Anti-Mysticism Polemic in Genesis Rabbah: A Bourdieusian Reading
David H. Aaron
Hebrew Union College
“With Specious Contentions, He Cast Blemishes on His Holy Ones”: Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and Nahmanides in Zecharyah ben Moshe’s Poetic Preface to Offering of Zeal
Eric Lawee
Bar-Ilan University
Wandering Jews in England’s Green and Pleasant Land: Wissenschaft des Judentums in an Anglo-Jewish Context
Daniel Langton
University of Manchester